Amersham's Women at War

Amersham's 'Women at War' project researched, shared and celebrated local women who made a significant contribution to the fight for women’s suffrage and supported the war effort. With National Lottery Heritage Fund support, a team of volunteers, supported by a researcher, used documentary archives, held in both the museum and elsewhere, to add depth and breadth to our understanding of the lives of women living in Amersham during the early twentieth century and over the period of the First World War. The outcomes from this research were shared with local people, principally adults, Key Stage Three-aged children and young people. A series of affiliated learning activities included a Key Stage Three school visit designed to enrich the history curriculum for teaching the First World War. alongside free distribution of our project book to local educational groups. Complementary content taken from the booklet remains available on the museum's website. We also delivered an 'Amersham Women at War' exhibition series, which profiled the lives of the women we researched, and ran a programme of activities for Women's History Month in March 2019, including talks and an open day. The project enabled a broad range of people to learn about local women whose stories had not been told before. The content produced as a result ensured that these efforts and achievements can be shared and valued beyond the formal lifespan of the project.